Stock Market Today: Stocks end lower, gold leaps as uncertainty grips markets

Updated at 4:38 PM EDT by Rob Lenihan

Stocks finished lower Tuesday, after two days of gains, while gold prices powered to a fresh all-time high, as the tech rout resumed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 260.32 points, or 0.62%, to end the session at 41,581.31, while the S&P 500 lost 1.07%, nearing correction territory and closing at 5,614.66, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 1.71% to end the day at 17,504.12.

Tesla, Palantir and Nvidia were some of the big tech names ending in the red.

“The recent downturn in equity markets has heightened fears of a looming recession among investors,” said Lawrence Gillum, chief fixed income strategist for LPL Financial. 

“Factors such as newly imposed tariffs by the new presidential administration, concerns about an economic slowdown, and persistent inflationary pressures have all contributed to the prevailing bearish sentiment,” he added.

While equities have declined in recent weeks, credit spreads — the gap between corporate bond yields and U.S. Treasury bond yields — have widened. 

“This widening is seen by some as a potential recession signal, reflecting greater risk aversion and unease about the economic outlook,” Gillum said.

While the move higher in spreads has frightened some investors, he added, that LPL Research’s Strategic and Tactical Asset Allocation Committee (STAAC) believes this move may be more of a correction scare than a recession scare. 

“Key economic indicators, such as employment rates, consumer spending, and corporate earnings, have not shown the sharp declines that usually accompany a recession,” Gillum said. “This suggests that the widening spreads may reflect localized market adjustments and potential repricing of risk rather than systemic economic weakness.”

Updated at 11:35 AM EDT

Historic vote

Germany’s lower house of parliament formally approved a huge spending increase proposed by new Chancellor Friedrich Metz in a vote that represents an historic change in fiscal ambitions for Europe’s powerhouse economy.

The bill, which must still be agreed by federal state leaders in the upper house, would pave the way for a $550 billion defense and infrastructure fund while easing a so-called debt brake that has limited Germany’s fiscal spending for more than three decades.

Germany’s DAX performance index hit a fresh all-time peak prior to the vote before closed 0.72% higher at 23,320.97 points, extending its year-to-date advance to around 16.4%.

BREAKING: German lawmakers have passed a historic infrastructure and defense spending package. 
The measures include a €500bn infrastructure fund, and the removal of borrowing limits to fund a massive increase in defense spending. pic.twitter.com/yFlTJOlOpy

— DW Politics (@dw_politics) March 18, 2025

Updated at 10:13 AM EDT

Speeding lower

Stocks are starting to accelerate earlier declines in early trading, with the S&P 500 now down 60 points, or 1.06% on the session and the Nasdaq off 320 points, or 1.8% 

Gold, meanwhile, added to overnight gains and was last marked at a fresh all-time high of $3,029.22 per ounce. 

US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy has been the key driver for gold so far in 2025,” said ING’s commodities strategist Ewa Manthey.

“We see uncertainty over trade and tariffs continuing to buoy gold prices – and if trade tensions intensify and we see more retaliatory measures, safe-haven demand for gold will only continue,” she added. “Despite this relentless rally, gold is still a long way from its all-time inflation-adjusted peak, which it hit in 1980 and equates to about $3,800/oz, driven by weak economic growth, rising inflation and geopolitical uncertainty and instability.”

#gold #crudeoil #sugar #copper
Gold hit a new record above USD 3,017 an ounce amid rising Middle East tensions and US economic concerns. Bullion rose after Israel's military strikes on Hamas in Gaza threatened a fragile truce, while Trump has increased pressure on Iran to…

— Ole S Hansen (@Ole_S_Hansen) March 18, 2025

Updated at 9:33 AM EDT

Soft open

The S&P 500 was marked 26 points, or 0.46% lower in the opening minutes of trading, with the Nasdaq falling 150 points, or 0.83%.

The Dow fell 87 points while the mid-cap Russell 2000 index traded 12 points, or 0.6% lower.

S&P 500 Opening Bell Heatmap (Mar. 18, 2025)$SPY -0.42% 🟥$QQQ -0.82% 🟥$DJI -0.28% 🟥$IWM -1.17% 🟥 pic.twitter.com/JWi3KFdtNB

— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) March 18, 2025

Updated at 8:49 AM EDT

Nobody beats the Wiz?

Alphabet  (GOOGL)  confirmed its planned $32 billion purchase of cloud security specialists Wiz as it looks to close the gap on market leaders Amazon  (AMZN)  and Microsoft  (MSFT) .

Google, which attempted to buy Wiz for $23 billion in 2024 but was thwarted by antitrust concerns tied to then FTC chairwoman Lina Kahn, said it would embed Wiz into its cloud computing division once the deal is closed, but did not provide a timeline.

That could suggest that its may still face challenges from both the FTC and the Department of Justice, both of which indicated last month that they will continue to scrutinize deals on the basis joint merger guidelines published in 2023.

Google shares were last marked 0.05% lower in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $166.46 each. 

$GOOG buys Wiz for $32 billion…
Wiz reportedly made $500 million in sales last year. This values the deal at 64 times sales.
People say $GOOG should have bought back its shares at 18 times forward earnings.. I don’t agree.$GOOG doesn’t need to save the day, it should build… pic.twitter.com/vNQqvaWStT

— Oguz O. | 𝕏 Capitalist 💸 (@thexcapitalist) March 18, 2025

Updated at 8:33 AM EDT

Housing bounce

U.S. housing starts rebounded in February, rising 11.2% following January’s 11.5% contraction, to an annualized rate of 1.501 million units, well ahead of the Street’s 1.38 million forecast.

However, permits for new construction, a good indicator of housing demand, fell another 1.2% following the unrevised -0.6% reading from January, to an annualized rate of 1.456 million units. 

US FEB HOUSING STARTS +11.2% VS JAN -11.5%
US FEB HOUSING STARTS 1.501 MLN UNIT RATE (CONSENSUS 1.380 MLN), VS JAN 1.350 MLN UNITS
US FEB HOUSING PERMITS -1.2% VS JAN -0.6%
US FEB HOUSING PERMITS 1.456 MLN UNIT RATE (CONSENSUS 1.453 MLN) VS JAN 1.473 MLN UNIT RATE
US FEB…

— PiQ (@PiQSuite) March 18, 2025

Updated at 7:45 AM EDT

Fed on deck

The Federal Reserve kicks off its two-day policy meeting in Washington this morning amid weakening U.S. growth prospects and an uncertain inflation path tied to President Trump’s economic agenda.

Markets are pricing in little chance of an interest-rate cut and are focused more on the expected changes to the central bank’s new round of growth and inflation forecasts, which are expected alongside tomorrow’s policy decision.

“Currently, the Fed is being held back from providing additional policy rate cuts because there is still limited evidence that the economy really needs immediate additional support, inflation remains above target, and because elevated government policy uncertainty raises the risk of a wrong monetary policy move,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.

“The Fed would likely prefer to wait until they have policy clarity and a clear line of vision into the economic outlook, suggesting that policy easing will be delayed until late Q2 or even early Q3,” she added. 

Goldman's FOMC expected redlines… pic.twitter.com/kYoDNOV0Cw

— Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT 🍖 (@MikeZaccardi) March 17, 2025

Stock Market Today

Stocks ended firmly higher last night, extending Wall Street’s winning streak to a second session, as investors looked for bargains in beaten-down markets following last week’s slump into correction territory for the S&P 500. 

That trade may be disrupted today, however, following Bank of America’s closely tracked survey of global fund managers for March, which showed investors dumping U.S. stocks at the fastest pace on record.

Markets are already showing a defensive tenor in the overnight session, with gold prices rising past $3,020 per ounce, taking the bullion’s year-to-date advance to around 15%. The move followed a series of strikes on targets in Gaza by the Israeli Defense Force that looks to have obliterated the tenuous ceasefire agreement. 

Investors are also eyeing any details from a phone call later today between President Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin, aimed at establishing a ceasefire in that country’s war against Ukraine.

On Wall Street, the session’s focus is likely to fall on housing-market data arriving at 8:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time, in the form of housing starts and building permits for February. The report follows data yesterday showing homebuilder sentiment fell to the lowest in seven months.

Nvidia  (NVDA)  CEO Jensen Huang is also set to delivery the keynote address to the tech giant’s GTC event later today in San Jose, Calif., where he will likely speak to AI-demand concerns and unveil the newest iteration of the Blackwell lineup, Blackwell Ultra.

Related: Wall Street analyst overhauls S&P 500 price target as markets gyrate

Heading into the start of the trading day, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 were little changed from last night’s closing levels, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average called 33 points higher.

The tech-focused Nasdaq, meanwhile, is priced for a modest opening bell decline of around 20 points.

More Wall Street Analysts:

• Analyst resets Tesla stock price target tied to ‘shocking’ catalyst
• Analyst revamps Palantir stock price target after slump
• Analysts turn heads with Nvidia stock price target move

In overseas markets, Europe’s Stoxx 600 was firmly higher in midday Frankfurt trading ahead of a key vote in Germany’s Bundestag that could unlock hundreds of billions in stimulus spending under the expansionist policies of new Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Britain’s FTSE 100, meanwhile, rose 0.46% in London as higher oil and commodity prices lifted the benchmark ahead of a Bank of England rate decision later in the week.

Overnight in Asia, stocks in Hong Kong hit a three-week high, lifting the regional MSCI ex-Japan benchmark 1.27% into the close of trading, while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 1.2%.

Related: Veteran fund manager unveils eye-popping S&P 500 forecast

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